Paul Danzer

Paul is the former sports reporter for the Daily Astorian. He was hired in July 1986 and worked there until May of 1999. Born with cerebral palsy, he was unable to compete in competitive sports but that didn’t phase his love for sports. At a young age he decided that sports writing would be a fun career and it wasn’t long before he found his lifetime career.

While at the Daily Astorian, he covered all the area school and local sports events. One of the first events he covered was the 1986 Oregon Coast Pro-Am and part of the first Fred Meyer Challenge. The tournament brought in many big name golfers to the Astoria Golf and Country Club. He interviewed Fuzzy Zoeller, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Fred Couples before meeting Astoria boys basketball head coach Mike Goin.

Basketball was king during his time at the Daily Astorian. In the 13 seasons covering AHS basketball the boys made the 16 team state tournament 11 times. Many times entering as the number one team from the league. The Fishermen finally won the tournament in 1998. The AHS girls’ basketball team made it to the state tournament 9 times in the same 13 years.

In the many trips Paul took covering the Fishermen, Baker was the farthest destination. Football was up and down during that time and the team had made the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. The game was played in a brutal snowstorm and to make things worse, the Baker team had sideline heaters and the Fishermen did not. Another memorable long road trip was to cover a baseball state playoff game in Brookings-Harbor. Paul made many trips to Eugene where the state tournaments were held for volleyball, basketball, track, and cross country. He was there in 1990 and 1992 when the AHS boys cross country team won state championships. His dedication and skill for first hand reporting of local sports events were an asset to the community. He was always ready to talk sports with coaches, players, alumni and fans and was a great advocate for the sports programs at Astoria High School.

Paul started writing in high school for the student newspaper at Wilson High School where he interviewed alum Dale Murphy. He was a reporter and sports editor of the Portland State University student newspaper. While at the Vanguard he covered Neil Lomax and Mouse Davis’ football teams. He reported at the University of Oregon for the Daily Emerald.

At the time of induction he is writing for the Portland Tribune. He reports all things sports including Winterhawks, college basketball, roller derby, PIL high school sports and prep sports for other Pamplin Media publications.